Iron Maiden (AU
by ThatBlondeGirl
Summary: Tony and Pepper Stark decide to live a normal life after the events of the Snap and an attack on their home. In comes an iron baby, which will change their lives forever. But, after the events of Endgame, Morgan Stark will put her skills to the test years later as she tries to save the one thing she loves the most.


Chapter one: Back to the Basics.

"Anthony Edward Stark! You don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you! What is going on with you?" Virginia Marie "Pepper" Stark says as she hastily walks after Tony Stark, eventually grabbing his arm and turning him to face her.

Tony gives her a look of defeat while stuttering on his words, which was something he rarely did to begin with, "P-p-pepper please. T-t-this is not the time right now to fight..."

Pepper turns her chin up to stare down at him, "Then when ARE we going to have an actual conversation Tony? Huh? You keep ignoring me when I bring up the subject."

Tony huffs and places his arms over one another and taps his fingers on his left arm, "You aren't going to make it easy on me, clearly. If you want to talk let's talk."

Peppers face goes soft as she speaks, "I would really love to know if you'd like to have kids... with me. You've always kind of acted like you wanted them, but you then say no when asked or as I said, ignore me when I bring it up."

Tony uncrosses his arms and reaches out for one of Peppers hands and intertwines their fingers together, "Pepper... I'm just worried about having a child who won't get to be a child. I'm afraid of bringing them into this crazy world. I mean, the kid wouldn't have normal parents or a normal family. That's why I've not been able to give you a better answer. I'm sorry honey. To finally AND correctly answer your question, yes I'd like to have a iron baby with you."

Pepper gives Tony a loving gaze as she squeezes his hand, "But the fun of it all is that we get to teach them about how to be someone like their daddy. You know? They are going to be wonderfully made."

Tony grins as he watches Peppers eyes light up as she talks about a future mini iron baby before finally cutting her off, "No, she won't be as wonderful as me. She'll be as wonderful as you! You are something special and hard to replace, Pep. She'll have all of your amazing qualities! The only thing she'll get from me, is my brown hair and my sarcasm. But she'll have your eyes, your smile, your wit, your smarts, your gorgeous face. That's what she'll have."

Pepper laughs with a twinkle in her eye, "You're hoping for a girl, aren't you?"

Tony smirks, "Can we make it happen? Please?"

Pepper takes one of his hands and places it on her stomach, "I think it already has!"

Tony freezes in place for second before finally speaking, "PEPPER??! Shut up!! I'm going to be a daddy?? Is this real??"

Pepper grins and nods enthusiastically, "I have been hiding it for a while because I didn't know exactly where we stood with babies. I wanted to make sure to talk to you about it, but before telling you that I'm with child."

Tony's face lights up as he picks Pepper and spins her around before stopping and holds her up near his face.

He kisses her softly before putting her down, "This is the best news ever. I need to get started on her suit."

As he walks to the basement, Pepper follows him and stops him by stepping in front of his way, "Uhhh, Tony, a suit?? We haven't even picked out a name yet, and you're already making her a suit? Tony, love, she doesn't need a suit."

Tony rolls his eyes before placing an hand on her arm, "Pep, she needs a form of protection. What if she needs to take my place someday? What if you can't be Rescue anymore? So basically, she'll be the Iron Maiden. She'll be us combined."

Pepper gasps as she tries to reason with the love of her life, who has clearly lost his mind, "Tony, what if she wants to be something different? She doesn't have to be a superhero! I don't want her to get into anything that could get her killed!"

Tony squeezes her arm gently before moving her slightly out of the way so he can walk into his lab, "Honey, it's in her blood. She may try to be something different, but she can't escape being Iron Maiden. She's destined to take my place. As I said, she'll need to do it. The world will need her someday."

Pepper looks down at her feet for a second before walking after him, "Tony..."

Tony walks over to his desk of parts and picks them up one by one and examining them closely, "Pepper. This is what I have to do. I have to protect my little girl. No exceptions."

Pepper sighs as she sits in his comfy custom made desk chair and plays with her wedding rings, "Tony, how are you even going to make a suit for her now?"

Tony puts down his wrench and looks up at his wife with a twinkle in his eye, "I could make the suit evolve with her as she grows."

Pepper's eyes meet her husbands as she smiles brightly before frowning, "Tony, that's genius. But it's still unsafe. I-"

Tony cuts her off by putting his hand up in the air, "Honey, I know you're scared. But so am I. We are bringing a tiny little human into this world. This world is completely unsafe. But we have to keep her safe and protected. But if she wants to be an Avenger, we have to keep her safe to be able to do what she has to."

Pepper gets up and walks down and bends down to his level and leans her head against his and puts a hand on the back of head, and runs her hand through the soft brown curls, "Tony, if this is what needs to be done, so be it. Trying to tell you no has never worked before In the past, and it's obviously not going to work now."

Tony melts into Peppers grasp and runs his hands down her back as he looks into his eyes, "You really do complete me Virginia Marie Stark. I know I don't say it often. But you know me. Actions speak louder than words."

Pepper pauses for a second before rubbing Tony's cheek, "I love you."

Tony plants a kiss on her hand and smiles, "I love you 3000."

Pepper and Tony both feel a flutter come from Peppers stomach, and both of their mouths drop open.

Pepper speaks first, "Tony, I think I picked out her name."

Tony breaks out of his shock, "What did you come up with?"

Pepper grins, "Morgan Hope Stark."

Tony grins back, "Pepper, that's perfect. It fits. She's our hope in the darkness."

Pepper puts hand on her stomach then watches Tony place his hand on top of hers, "Well, we also have to name her after my eccentric uncle Morgan. It's only mandatory."

Tony lets out a hearty laugh as he leans down to place a kiss on Peppers growing stomach, "Oh of course. We can't forget about that guy! Morgan will continue his legacy."

Pepper laughs and smacks his arm, "She'll be more like you I feel like. Very sassy, sarcastic, not very good at listening."

Tony chuckles, "No, she'll be just like you too. Don't worry."

After a few minutes of the Starks holding one another, Tony hears snores coming from Peppers lips.

He eventually gets up and picks Pepper up with him and takes her up to their bedroom.

Once he puts her in bed, he comes back down and gets started on Morgan's suit.

The next morning-

Pepper wakes up and reaches out for Tony, and doesn't see him.

She gets out of bed and heads down to Tony's lab to find him asleep in his chair, with a finished Iron Maiden suit on the work bench in front of him.

Pepper sits on a chest in front of where Tony is sleeping and rubs his shoulder softly to try wake him up, "Tony?"

Tony slowly opens his eyes and smiles at the sight of Pepper in a little iron man themed nightie and her bump showing more than the night before, "Pep. Hey."

Pepper giggles, "Good morning sleepy head."

Tony chuckles before calling out to FRIDAY, "Friday, cancel the Mrs and my plans today. We're staying in today."

FRIDAY's voice echos in the background as Tony sits up and raps both hands around Peppers hips, "Yes sir."

Pepper raps her arms around Tony's neck and smiles, knowing where this was going.

Tony and Pepper always have their walls up and sometimes try to keep themselves in check when it comes to PDA.

But recently, they've allowed themselves to be vulnerable and have been packing on that hot and steamy PDA.

Pepper smiles bigger, "Tony, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Tony then stands up and raps Peppers legs around him as he starts heading up stairs.

With a seductive gleam in his eye as he opens their bedroom door, he whispers to Pepper softly in her ear, 'I love you."

Before Pepper can even respond, she hears a loud bang coming from downstairs and whispers back to Tony, "Put me down."

Tony shakes his head in a silent response of "no".

Pepper slightly hits his chest, "Tony! Just because I'm pregnant, doesn't mean I can't help. Let me get in my suit!!"

Tony huffs and leans over Pepper to press a button on his night stand.

Suddenly the Rescue suit flies in and incases Peppers body as quietly as possible.

Tony suddenly sees his suit flying in from a distance.

The Iron Man mask hits him first before the rest of the suit comes in and incases him with a little more noise than Peppers suit did, in turn, making him stumble backwards and hitting a corner of the bed.

Tony then turns around to see that Pepper has disappeared and suddenly hears an even louder bang.

He suddenly sees a gaping whole in their bedroom wall from where her suit crashed through.

Tony flies out and down the stairs to the living room, where he sees Pepper fighting a robot much bigger than her.

Pepper then sees the robot throw a weird looking device, prompting her to turn and run, while yelling to her husband, "TONY LOOK OUT!! RUN!!"

Tony can barely hear Peppers screams as the Iron Man suit gets knocked out off of the ground and into the air.

The ground where Tony and where Pepper had once stood, has been torn from the Earth as pieces of the house start to be sucked inside and suddenly so does Tony.

Tony gets out of his haze to find himself lying on a piece of the floor down at the bottom of the hole.

He can hear Peppers voice screaming for him from the top, "TONY!! TONY ANSWER ME!!"

Tony can barely make an audible sound, but presses an red emergency button that is in the palm of the suit while barely whispering, "Pepper."

He is suddenly blacks out again while pieces of furniture are falling down towards him.

The button that he had pressed in the palm of his suit, actually was a button that alerted the Rescue suit to his location, just in case Pepper couldn't find him during a mission or if something happened while Tony was taking a joy ride.

When Tony opens his eyes again, he feels a cold touch of the Rescue suit on the back of his neck.

He tries to speak, but Pepper cuts him off as she blocks a piece of a sculpture that almost hits Tony, and says something she said to him years earlier, "I got you."

Tony's eyes dazzle with the memory and repeats what he said back to her, "I got you first."

Pepper smiles before picking him up off of the slab of concrete and flies out of the house to the driveway.

She sits him on the ground and gulps as she looks down at hands of the suit to see Tony's blood.

Tony sighs with nervousness as he watches Pepper open her mouth to ask Friday to call 9-1-1.

Peppers hands shake as she watches the life go in and out of Tony's eyes as she screams at the operator to hurry, "PLEASE WE NEED SOMEONE HERE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE!"

Pepper has always been the type of strong person on the outside, as she's always had to deal with Tony's bullshit. But as time went on, and lots of things have happened to change her attitude and perspective, Pepper would let her guard down more often. More often than usual, she would loose her cool.

Losing Tony became a thought that Pepper couldn't push all the way to the back of her mind.

As Tony fades in and out, he mumbles nonchalantly, "Pep, we need a new house. Baby Morguna can't live in a box."

Pepper leans down next to him and places a hand over the arc reactor in his chest and feels Tony's hand go over hers, "Tony, you'll be fine okay? You'll make it. Promise me. Promise me that you'll stay with me."

Tony squeezes Peppers hand with as much strength as he can muster, "I promise that I'll stay alive. As long as you can promise me something..."

Pepper nods as she wipes the blood from the corner of his mouth, "Anything."

Tony smiles a tiny smile as he tries to steady his breathing, "Promise me that we can get a Alpaca... and that we can name him Gerald."

Pepper wipes a tear from her eye as she huffs, "Anthony Edward Stark, we are not getting an alpaca."

Tony mummers as he closes his eyes, "Pep, you promised. Please."

Pepper sighs, "Fine. But we aren't going to live in a mansion anymore. We have to live in a normal house. A normal house where we can be a family. Can you promise me that?"

Tony opens his eyes again but before he can respond, the authorities and ambulances show up.

30 minutes later-

"Pepper! Tony! Are you both alright?"

Pepper looks up from a sleeping Tony and up to Happy Hogan who is moving swiftly to Tony's side on the stretcher.

Before she can speak, Happy reaches out and raps her up in a tight hug, "Pepper, I'm so glad you're okay! How's Tony doing?"

Pepper pulls away and looks down at Tony and runs her thumb over his cheek, "He's... okay. The paramedics said he lost a lot of blood and he definitely will have scars, but he's going to be okay. Luckily. Because I don't want my daughter to be without her father."

Pepper turns her face away and places a hand over her face as tiny sobs shake her whole body.

Happy walks closer to her and raps her up in another tight hug, "Pepper... everything will be okay. Don't worry."

Pepper squeezes Happy gently as she whispers, "Happy, we need a new place to live. Tony can't live here. He needs a quiet and calm life. One that involves a forest... far away from this...", Pepper gestures to the remains around them.

Happy nods before taking his phone out of his pocket and puts it to his ear.

Pepper backs up and looks at the phone near Happy's ear, "What are you doing?"

Happy points at the phone, "I'm calling Tony's realtor. I think they may know what to do."

Pepper sighs and crosses her arms over her baby bump while she watches Happy talk, and feels a soft kick from Morgan.

After a few minutes, Happy hangs up his phone and pulls up a picture and shows it to Pepper, "I found this house. It's big enough and has a ton of land! Its perfect."

Pepper takes the phone out of his hands and scrolls through the listing for a minute before speaking, "I'll take it."

Happy looks over at Pepper in shock, knowing that this is a hard decision for her to make, "Pepper, are you serious?? You really want to live there?"

Pepper looks back down at her stomach again and runs her hand over her bump lovingly, "I need to do this for Morgan. And to keep Tony alive and safe...", she pauses and sniffles before continuing, "... I haven't had Tony back for that long. After he was rescued, and had to watch him get back to health, I had made a pact with myself. I would make sure that he would be completely safe. He needs to be happy. He has gone through so much. I just want him to be happy, Happy."

Happy places a gentle hand on Peppers shoulder, "He's already happy. But I think a change of pace will make him happier. It'll help him get him in the right mindset. I know he wants to be the best he can be. When you called me and told me that you were pregnant, I knew right away that Tony would be so careful when it came to you and Morgan. I knew that he would move mountains for you both. You are all he has next to me and anyone else in the inner circle. Pepper, make the call..."Happy pauses and hands her the phone, ",...If you don't do it, you'll regret it."

"Hey Rhodey... it's Pepper. We want the house."


End file.
